Beautiful Things

I have had the best time with my horses and other people's horses. Last Sunday Aleythia and I went to Holly's to ride and we worked on position. One of the exercises was to stand up in your stirrups above your pommel and stay there. The end goal is to be able to do that at all three gaits. It's quite the leg workout. I don't know how long I did it, but the next couple days I was really sore. Another exercise we did was to start trotting: sit two strides, post one, and repeat. Then do the opposite: sit one stride, stand for two. The third exercise was impossible. You were supposed to go into two-point and bend at the waist and try to bend to your horse's neck. I. can't. do. that. After those exercises there was an immediate difference in how secure I was in the saddle. Then I tried sitting Oly's trot... It's a work in process. Like always we did a little bit of jumping and I jumped Oly over two jumps right in a row. There is a name for it, but I don't know it. He would jump the first one and would immediately have to jump again without taking another stride. It was so much fun!!! I rode T too. Bareback. And we jumped bareback. The jump was only about two feet or so. Probably less. That was fun too.
Tuesday Aleythia and I went to ride our own horses. We only had time to ride one horse. I rode Misstack and Aleythia rode Ana. I wanted to see if Misstack would do contact... she can. She might not be real good at it, but she can definitely do it. This is what she can do. She figured it out at the end.

The walking finally clicked for Ana. It's so cool. She finally gets it. It still needs work, but she is so much better! Wednesday we discovered that she is now a Cadillac. Terry got the chiropractor to come out and he adjusted her hip. It is such an improvement in her canter. Usually her canter is jarring, hurts your back, and makes you look like a fist year rider. Now she has that canter that Terry always said she had when he was riding her. She just needs to slow it down. So here's a before and after.

before

after

Thursday I rode Santana and tried to sit it trot without stirrups.... I could. I love it!

Today we went with Holly to her dressage lesson and I realized how little I know about the position of a horse. Like dropping the shoulder, being stiff, ect. My dressage vocabulary has greatly expanded. The highlight of that was riding Rosa. She is such a powerful horse. It is so different to ride her than any horse I have ever ridden. I don't really even know how to describe it. She has the most beautiful gaits. I love that horse... who wouldn't. 

 



This is How We Do It

Coffie has gotten way big

this is how we do it

We went on a trail ride Saturday with Toffy and Coffie. It actually went way better than I expected. It was very windy and the horses were nervous just being in the paddock. Aleythia and I decided that it would be safer for our health to lead them for a little while. We led them about half a mile, crossed an intersection, and got on. I think riding your horse in the ditch is the best thing you can do to them. They get used to cars, stepping on random objects, seeing random objects. If your ditches are anything like mine you'll understand. Oh another plus is that it's harvest time. The huge tractors are out and making noise. I got off when they came by. I don't like getting bucked off. To my surprise Toffy didn't care. I was prepared for her to have an "I might buck" attitude, but she did really well. I try not to let my preconceived notions about how they will do an a ride affect my actions towards them.
We got on a dirt road, and we turned around an hour into our trail ride. We cantered a little ways, and trotted. I'm not sure how far we trotted, but it was definitely longer than five minutes. Those fillies are really slow walkers. When we were going out Coffie was zigzagging all over. After that trot and canter she went considerably straighter. Coffie also decided that cars were scary on our way back. We were just about to the intersection when a car came by. Coffie jumped sideways and Aleythia almost fell off. A second car goes by slightly slower than the first and Coffie still jumps. A third car went by and this guy got the idea. The horse doesn't like cars!!! He drove slowly by and Coffie didn't spook. A little while later we were sitting at the intersection waiting and a truck and trailer turns onto our rode and Coffie doesn't spook at all.
We reached home and I had gotten off and I was leading Toffy up the driveway and this little yapper/rat comes racing over and Toffy's like, "OH MY GOSH!" Then she's like, "oh wait..." and promptly goes to eat.
After that Aleythia and I clipped Toffy's feet. It took an hour.... Terry can do it in 15 minutes. The reason it took so long was because our hands are not strong enough to squeeze the clippers together and it takes both of us to do it. We did get it done though.
Then we went in and watched a movie for a couple hours.
I rode Santana and he didn't buck me off. I consider that a plus. I have probably ridden him three times sense August.
On a sadder part Stretch was put down.

Sunday Show

Today's show went very well. We brought Santana, Frosty, Misstack, and Blacky. It was fun. I got to ride Santana all day because Terry's grandson was at a hockey game. We did poles, barrels, jumping figure eight, and four-in-a-line. I got second on poles, with a 12.65 sec time. We got fourth in barrels, with a time of 16.somethin sec, and we got third in jumping figure eight. I can't remember that time though. With four in a line we didn't place at all. We got a no-time. We used Santana, Misstack, Josie (from the Rosen farm), and Frosty. It was Aleythia's and Frosty's first time showing. It was also Frosty's first time going through barrels. We got a no time because they said Aleythia hit Frosty with her reins, which is not allowed. Aleythia says she didn't hit Frosty. Or at least not intentionally. She might of done it when she was trying to turn. Frosty figured out that she was supposed to canter at the last two barrels of the pattern.
Misstack did great. She got a third in jumping figure eight. I think that she would be fine at barrels and poles if she went fast, but I'm not the one riding her, so it's not up to me. Misstack was way calmer than she has been. She wasn't as uptight and worried about everything. She gets better every time she goes out.

Jittery Bug

Yesterday. Hmm so we got there around 2:30 and then stayed inside for two hours until it cooled off a little bit. I discovered I can say "a little bit" in four different languages. I have skilzs. We talked about what we were doing with the fillies come fair time. We're thinking they'll do a western pleasure class, a trail class, and maybe a timed event. We'll take Dash and Frosty. They'll probably do a halter class too. We don't want it to be too stressful, so they'll only be there one day. So we need to sit down and plan what we need to train in the time we have. I'm smart guys. Ya know how Toffy has been landing wrong on her foot, well because of it I haven't been riding her. Or doing anything with her. Cause there's not much to do. And I just had a thought. I could do ground stuff with her. Like a tarp, getting her to pull something, ect.. Yep.
Misstack was great yesterday. She gets better every time I take her out. She was getting on her hind feet when I asked her to do a rollback off the fence, her turns are getting a whole lot cleaner. She is neck-reining half way decently too.
With Coffie I have just been working on getting her to go where I tell her, and not pop her shoulder out and run through my cues. It is something that I did not anticipate to be a big problem.
We shouldn't stay in the ring for everything we need to teach them. Some of it can be taught outside of a ring on the trail and it is more fun. It just takes up more time, but we can deal with that.
Terry wants me to do kalcuta with Santana. I probably spelled it wrong. It gives me butterflies just thinking about it. Everyone who enters gets lined up in the arena and people bid on who will win. There is one barrel. You get a running start through the gate, go down, turn the barrel, come back, and then you have to stop inside the arena. The person with the fastest time, without knocking the barrel over, wins. It's extremely stressful. I think Santana would do wonderful with it. I'm slightly worried about the running start, because usually I have to have someone lead him into the arena because he acts all jittery. It'll be fine though. I need to fix his third barrel. He anticipates the turn so he goes too early and usually ends up knocking it over. He needs to quit anticipating a turn. I'll fix it by turning him away from the barrel and circling and then go around it. I discovered riding him in a snaffle through barrels and poles does not work very well when he's hyper. It's funny when he turns that last barrel I know he's going to bolt for home. It's still a little bit of a surprise even then. When he turns that barrel you have to be hanging onto the saddle horn just to keep from flying out of the saddle because he speeds up so fast. I love it!

These last two days have been a lot of fun. Thursday we went to Terry's late. It was cooler at 6:30 than it was at two. Rode every one but Toffy and Santana. Two of Terry's grandsons rode a few of the fillies too. It was really funny. The fillies did great. They didn't understand what the boys were asking, but they tried there best. The boys couldn't figure out how to direct rein. We really need to teach those fillies how to neck rein. They were also having a little trouble getting them moving, but a little spank on the butt fixed that. They just walked. With one of the boys it was his first time getting on a horse in about four years. Terry got on too! He hasn't been on a horse in about four or five years either. Then I hopped on Ana bareback and bridle-less, and she hated it. She would grudgingly do what I ask, but she was not happy. She does leg pressure, just sometimes you have to kick a little harder to get her to do it. Ana is limping though. It is not good. We don't know why. We were thinking about giving Toffy a bath too, but it was getting late.
Yesterday HM came over and we took the herd out on a trail ride. Seriously. We took three of the fillies. She rode Coffie, I rode Dash, and Aleythia rode Frosty. And then another two boys, brothers, and grandchildren of Terry rode Santana and Blacky. It was fun. I kinda felt that if anything set Dash off I would be on the ground and she would be running toward home. We let some people pet the horses too. They new something about horses. They were surprised at how well behaved the fillies were for only being two. We got back and then got Santana, Misstack, and Strudder all tacked up and in the paddock. HM got to try some barrel racing and pole racing and also saddle seat with Strudder. She was loving Santana's turns around the barrels. And she loved Misstack's canter. Misstack loves to canter. She was trying to get Misstack to go through poles, but kept knocking poles down because she couldn't get her to move out far enough. We tried figuring that out. She went through fine with me. Aleythia rode Santana a little bit too. Both Aleythia and HM were having a hard time getting Santana to canter. Don't know why. I thought he was just fine. They were also really surprised when they turned that last barrel, and he just took off. It takes a little getting used too.
HM has a new appreciation for how different our horses are from hers. She rode Strudder and he was great for her. He kept wanting to quit though. He looked gorgeous. If only he got ridden a little more consistently.
But that was the last two days. I really want my camera. My sis said I couldn't have it.

Ziggidey Zaggidy

So I can't remember how many times I've gone to Terry's this past week, and not blogged about it. So I'll just tell you what we're working on.
With the fillies we are starting to train the barrel and poles. Which means that we are getting control of their hindquarters, ribcage, shoulders, and head and neck. Which you should do with any discipline. We will also start doing more trails.
Toffy is lame. We have no idea why or where. Something is wrong with her left front that causes her to do an awkward step where she brings her knee in and then her leg goes out and she lands on the outside of her hoof first. Next time the farrier comes out we'll see if he can do some corrective trimming.
With Misstack it is mostly working on her turns around the barrel. I want to get control of her shoulders, so I am doing rollbacks into the fence. Her turns are getting better.
Santana just needs to be ridden.
Ana: working on the walk an trot. She seriously needs to get ridden more often. *cough-aleythia-cough*
We rode HM's horses this last Sunday. It was fun. We did jumping. I love jumping. One thing we talked about was picking a speed in an arena, and keeping that speed. You let the horse go wherever he wants, you just gotta make sure he stays in one speed. If he goes into a corner, kick him out of it. He'll learn pretty quick how to get outta that corner. You can help him out a little bit though. Otherwise LEAVE THE REINS ALONE!! This will help the horse physically and mentally. The physically is that you'll be trotting for quite some time. Mentally it will help him to listen to your commands and do them until you say other wise. It will also help the rider to zig when the horse zigs, and zag when the horse zags.
Just something to consider

Pathetic. I know.

News I have.
I go to camp this Sunday. Found out Wednesday.
Ok, I knew I was supposed to go to camp, I just didn't know when.
I'll be gone for a week. I don't want to go, but then I do. I want to go because I will get to see old friends, and make new friends. I love to go to camp. I'll get to ride new horses.
I don't want to go because I'll miss most of Toffy and Frosty's beginning of cantering. I'll start it though, so that's not so bad. I'll miss yet another cross country practice. Yes, I'm in cross country. Don't judge. Cross country practice started about three weeks ago, and I haven't made it to a single practice yet. I've been busy okay! It doesn't help that I don't even know when practice is. I think it is supposed to be on Tuesday. I was worried about missing a week of running too, but I found out that I can run in the morning. It'll be fine.
Aleythia and I spent Wednesday night at a friend's house, and we went running together Thursday morning. I died. She had us running an 8 minute mile. She can't keep that pace up, but jeez. I am a slow runner. Usually I make a 10 minute mile. I'm working on it!
Horses were great. We are going to canter Toffy and Frosty tomorrow. Should prove entertaining.
With Misstack and Santana I worked on neck reining, rollbacks off the fence, and getting control of their rib cage. I also tried to get Santana to do a nice easy lope. My success was small.
Coffie is doing really well. I just worked on her gaits, and turning.
I'm feeling really lazy today, so that's all I'm going to write.

Settin it Up

Today went pretty well. The videos help. I've been uploading them to youtube because it's way faster. I wish I could take pictures, but my camera is with one of my sisters in Tennessee.  

 

When I told Aleythia to stop and rest after every canter, the thinking behind that is as follows: If she can get Dash to associate cantering with a rest, her cantering will be way less fanatic. Also it will teach her that she can be calm after she goes fast. A valuable skill. I would know. I have a horse that doesn't have that skill.  

 

Toffy is amazing. She has come very far from bucking us off. I can't wait to start cantering.

 

Santana is getting some nice little exercise ponying Frosty. 

Frosty is getting more relaxed about the saddle every time I pony. I'm thinkin that tomorrow I'll have Aleythia get on and ride while I pony. Should prove entertaining. I had a thought occur to me as I was ponying Frosty. It would be really easy to teach a horse to canter with a rider if you taught him to pony first. The horse has learned to follow the lead horse's movements, so if the lead horse canters, so will the follower. Just a thought that I will totally have to use.
I didn't ride Coffie because she looked like she was limping. Very minor, but I'll give her a couple days rest. I rode Misstack too. She didn't do too bad. I need to get longer reins though. I've been using barrel reins, which is fine, its just that I could probably do the things I wanted to do with her more effectively with longer reins. I need to get her to listen to what I ask. I need her to let me position her around the barrel. She needs some work.

Happy Days are Here Again

Awesome day just barely describes it. Aleythia and I took Dash and Coffie out on a trail ride again. This time we didn't have another person, so we went without Santana. It went pretty good. The whole trip was less than two miles. Aleythia got bucked off. Coffie was brilliant. And ya.
Hahaha! I'm sorry. I'll tell you why Aleythia got bucked off.
We were going along, and I was trotting Coffie. Dash was cantering behind me, and all was good and right in the world. We walked for a little ways, then I wanted to canter. Coffie was a jewel and did it very well. Dash started getting faster. Then out-a the blue she starts buckin. Aleythia falls off, I keep cantering. It's just a fall, no biggy. I get Coffie slowed, and stopped. I turn around and I see Dash trotting back towards home, and Aleythia trying to catch her. Ya know what I love about living in a small town? You're bound to run into someone who knows a little about animals. Aleythia comes back with Dash and she said a guy got out of his truck and caught Dash for her. We continued on.
Once again there were a few freak outs, but nothing major. Coffie didn't buck.
Oh one of my other sisters was with us on her rollerblades. When we got back she went into the paddock with her rollerblades on and limped around. Right away Frosty and Toffy come up to her. The rollerblades don't bother them. I told her to go chase Santana. That was entertaining. He was extremely wary of her. The paddock is just barely hard enough to roller blade on. The fillies didn't care if she wheeled around them.
We chilled for a little while and convinced ourselves to go ride the other horses. I rode Misstack and Santana. Misstack was just going around the barrel correctly, and neck reigning. Santana worked very hard. Aleythia had Frosty out and was longeing her because she is really tense about the saddle for some reason. I decided that we would probably get better results if I ponied her off of Santana. We walked, trotted, and cantered. When we cantered I had to let go of the lead rope because she started bucking. By the end of that she was way more relaxed about it. I'll do the same thing tomorrow. Though I'll probably take a lot less time. After all the running around I worked on barrels. I also did poles. He kept predicting where I wanted him to go and as a result was extremely close to the poles. I corrected him by turning him the opposite way he wanted to go every time he did it. He got it. Eventually.
We had Toffy out tied to the trailer and I just wanted to do something simple and be done, so I got on bareback and moved around for a little while.
Aleythia got Ana out too, but didn't ride.
I felt accomplished.

Success Comes in Different Sizes.

Just for the heck of it I'm going to share today in a story format.


The morning came and I didn't go running. Instead I watched Doctor Who. It is very easy to talk yourself out of doing exercise. Two o'clock rolls around and I was set to see what the horses would throw at me today. I go down in the basement, grab my maroon bike, haul it up the stairs and out the back door. It's a little strange, I think, to see someone riding a bike with cowboy boots on.
I roll down that black driveway past the house, the hay barn, the chicken barn, and the trailer; scare one of the fillies out of the barn, park my bike in that dusty barn, and took a deep breath of horse.
Remember that filly I scared out of the barn? Well I went to go say hello to the horses, and there was Coffie, Dash, and Frosty tearing around the pasture and having a good time. Bucking as they raced around. I watched as Coffie raced to catch up with Dash. She was turning, and all the sudden she stumbled! Her feet scrambled for footing, lost the epic battle of gravity and her body slid across the grassy ground. She promptly got up and started running again. I laughed at their antics, happy to be in this place.
Walking out to the horses they look at me and watch my approach. Toffy and Dash come to say hello like they do every time I walk out there. I go around and say hello to all the horses; Santana, Stretch, Misstack, Frosty, Coffie, Strudder, Ana, and left Blacky to graze; she prefers it that way. And all the while Dash follows me, like she always does, vying for attention. The funny thing is though, is that the moment I decide to go back to the barn she stops following me. It's like somehow she knows I no longer intend to stay.
I walk in the front of the barn, walk to the back of the barn, unlock the black and white door, and let it swing outward. Whistling those two notes that let the horses know when to come in, I walk towards the pasture gate. Whiiiiii, whooooo. The horses look at me for a while, but none of them move. I whistle again. Whiiiiii, whooooo. Still, they look at me without moving. Inwardly, I sigh. I guess I'll have to do this the hard way. I go back into the barn and grab three halters; Santana's, Ana's, and Misstack's. Santana is easy to catch. He walks away from me, and I let him. I look at his hindquarters, he swings them away and that's that. He lets me catch him. Ana is quite a bit harder. She has no desire to be caught, and it takes another five minutes for me to do so. I'd get close, and she'd trot away. But I am patient and take my time. Eventually she'll let me catch her. Misstack was about as easy as Santana to catch.
I lead those three back to the barn and try very hard not to get the ropes tangled up as I put them in their pens. As I am finishing up this task the other horses lazily walk into the barn and start wandering around. I get all the horses sorted, but don't worry about Stretch and Blacky. They don't have to stay in a pen if they don't want too. They won't cause any trouble. I bring Misstack, Santana, and Ana out of their pens again and tie them up to the posts on the back wall. I catch the fillies with the no complaint attitude that I always get from them, and tie them up to the posts on the South wall. I look down the row of horses and think, "Seven horses ey, better get started."
It took a little less than an hour to get those three horses caught, and all the others ready too, and to get all the horses brushed with clean feet, sprayed with fly spray, and the tack out and ready to be used.
The barn is quite as the horses stand quietly in their places, knowing that moving around will gain them nothing.
I got Frosty ready and walk out that black and white door on the South wall, next to the back wall. The sun finally decided to show its face while I was in the barn getting ready. I walk Frosty through the barrel and pole pattern. When I finished I get on and ask her to walk. She goes a few feet and stops. I ask again. This pattern repeats itself until we are a further away from the black and white door. Frosty walks with confidence, and strides out. She does not fear the world. I ask her to trot, and she shakes her head. No! she goes. But I insist I tell her. After a little more urging she trots... and then stops. I let her. I want her to be calm, and not stressed too much when we ride. We trot again for a little longer. At the end of the lesson she is trotting almost the entire length of the paddock which is long enough to accommodate room for poles, and not much more room than that.
I put Frosty away and saddle up Ana. She throws her head as I tighten up the cinch. I led her out of the barn, and try to get on as she walks away. I correct her, and try again. This time I am standing in the left stirrup before she starts walking. I do a one rein stop, and swing my leg over. We stand there for a little while. When we started going again, I let her choose the pace. At first it worked. She slowed down sooner without my nagging, then she got hyper. She was bucking when we cantered. Sadly I don't think slapping her does anything to her. She has realized that it doesn't hurt so bad and therefore ignores it. She was tearing around the paddock like your mother on Thanksgiving Day and the relatives are coming! I finally decided that was enough and did one rein stops. I got her walking nice and we stopped and stood there. Terry had pulled up in his truck with the lawn mower sitting in a little trailer behind him. We talked for a little bit about what we'd been doing and I quit with Ana.
Toffy was doing really well. We were just walking around, and I was having a little discussion with myself about whether or not to trot her. Terry had gone and got Frosty and was clipping her feet and I decided to trot her. I called Terry's name and he came walking over.
"Can you longe her while I ride?"
He laughs and says, "We both need each other's help. I need you to hold Frosty for me because she moves around too much so I figured I'd wait until you were done." He goes back and gets the longe line and the whip.
We took off the lead rope hanging from her halter and secured to the saddle horn and I instruct Terry, "When she starts trotting only let her do it for a couple of steps, then pull her slowly and gently towards you. We don't want her to think about it too much. The longer she has to think about it the more time she has to freak out."
Terry asks her to trot, and she does. He slows her down and we pet her and tell her she's a good girl. We ask her to trot one more time and this time we let her trot halfway around the little circle before slowing her down. I slide down and lead her into the barn.
Misstack had gotten ridden this morning, but I rode her anyway. I get on and asked her to do flexing. She is a little stiff, but not too bad. We work on neck reining. I barely move my hand to the left, wait a second, direct rein her to the left as I slide my left leg back and move her hindquarters over. I also work on her enter and exit of the barrel. Sometimes she likes to go too wide, so I circle the barrel until we're closer and take off all pressure from my legs when we get there. Other times she wants to get too close. I push her out a little bit with my inside leg. She is very inconsistent with the barrels. When I finish I do flexing again before I get off and take her into the barn.
I get Coffie and lead her through the barrels and poles. I lead all the fillies through the barrels and poles. Mostly we do trotting. We are on the South end of the paddock and I ask her to trot. Then a couple birds dive out of a tree and she spooks away from them. My heart skips half a beat, but I calmly pull gently on the reins to the right, which is where she wants to go anyway. She settles down and we start walking again. We trot, and her trot is beautiful. She does it so easily and without worry. We trot a little more, farther than Frosty did, and call it good.
I saddle up Santana and Dash. Terry brings out Dash while I bring out Santana, and holds onto Dash while I ride Santana. I work on neck reining. He's not too bad at it. It just needs a little fine tuning. I work with him on his turns around the barrel like I did with Misstack too. I ask him to turn the third barrel, and he shoots out of that turn bucking. I turn him and do a one rein stop. I do the barrel pattern one more time before going and getting Dash from Terry. Dash is wearing a back cinch and has had the most trouble with it. That's most of the reason why we haven't been riding her. We've been longing and ponying trying to get her as used to that back cinch as possible before we get on. We walked for a little while and then trotted. One thing I love about Santana is that he doesn't care were the other horse is. It doesn't bother him. That's why I use him for ponying. That and he's one of our only horses that can neck rein decently. I get off Santana, and get on Dash. Terry leads her around and she's totally fine with it. Tomorrow I might add walking alone to it.
We tie Santana and Dash back up to their posts, unsaddle and put the tack away. By this time it is six o'clock. We undo the halters from the horses and watch as they run outside, around the back of the barn, and through the pasture gate. It was a good day.

For Crying Out Loud!

I was going to go kayaking this morning, but that didn't happen because it was cloudy. Not very fun for kayaking. Ya know what else I didn't do today. Not wear a sweater. Seriously it's JUNE for crying out loud! ...for crying out loud... where does that come from.. It doesn't even make a whole lot of sense. (Say that line over again in Mary's voice from Lord of The Rings)
So I wore a sweater for crying out loud.... Talking about things that can be used for many different things; try to use "I'm sorry you feel that way" as often as you can. You will be surprised how often that line can be used. It's really quite amusing for crying out loud.
I am not ADD for crying out loud!
I rode Toffy! We just walked around. I didn't feel like putting myself in unnecessary danger for crying out loud, so we just walked. She did great. I can't remember if I said this before, but she has quit flinching every time we put the saddle on. She is also really responsive to the bit. I barely pick up the reins and she tucks her head. It's awesome for crying out loud!!
Hahaha! I know what the title of this post is going to be!
I also led the fillies through the barrel and pole pattern.
Coffie was great too. She was a bit like, "Walking is stupid, let's trot." It was okay though. I let her do it because she was turning when I asked her too. She was listening for crying out loud. She also didn't feel like she was going to buck me off.
Frosty; trotting: It was really interesting. I would ask her to trot, and after a few feet she would arch her back, I would say, "Easy girl," and she would stop trotting and relax. But that's not the point for crying out loud. The point is I think I could have said anything, as long as I wanted her to slow down really badly. I could have said, "Your grandma makes awful cookies," and as long as my body and mind was focused on her settling down, she would have settled down.
I ponied Dash off of Santana. We trotted once. She did alright. I lunged her before hand.
Santana is freaking out over the stupidest things. Like I'll bring the bridle up to his face, or get on him. It is really annoying, and I have no idea why he's doing it for crying out loud.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

I feel like I'm on a roll. I haven't gotten bucked off and I have been riding consistently sense Friday of last week.
I rode Frosty and Coffie today.
Did trotting with Frosty. I feel like I should work on being able to trot for five minutes before I canter. Talking about cantering. The last time the farrier was in the area he said he would show us an easy way to get the fillies to canter.... but he was in a rush. He'll be in the area again this weekend. Terry's brother wanted to know when he would be in the area again so that he could do his horses so Terry called him, and I told Terry to tell him that he needed to show me how to get the fillies to canter. I'm really excited.
The farrier, Craig is his first name... I don't know his last name, is quite a character.
Coffie did pretty good. We just walked. Ya know I really don't know why I stayed off her for so long. It's not like she did anything wrong. I think it might have had something to do with her flinching when I rub the brush at a certain place on her back. She's not bad. I can't remember if I have ever ridden her with a back cinch before though.
I rode Misstack! Britney had ridden her this morning (I could tell because the saddle stirrups were changed) but I figured it wouldn't kill her to be ridden again. I didn't do too much. We worked on neck reining, one rein stops at the walk, trot, and canter, flexing at the poll, and backing up. I didn't spend to much time on any one of those things.
We have a Sunday show to go to! The horses were taking are; Misstack, Santana, Blacky, and Dash. It should prove entertaining.
Santana did well too. Mostly worked on neck reining in a snaffle. I'll have to put up how to teach that. Then I ponied Toffy with him. We trotted around, and I really wish Santana was better at neck reining in a snaffle so that I could hold onto her lead rope without interfering with my directions to Santana. Toffy did well. She kept up most of the time. I was going to pony Dash off of Santana too, but that didn't happen.
Terry went and longed her beforehand to see if she would freak out at the back cinch which she did. She wouldn't longe very well though. She was basically side passing  a circle. She was afraid of the string on the end of the whip. Silly horsey.

I'm kinda really glad I at least have some room to work inside the barn on crappy days.
It was raining, so I worked with the fillies in the front part of the barn.
Before I got there Terry's grandson was working with them on leading. Like in a halter class. Dash is really good at it. Every time she stops she squares her feet.
On account of the rain we didn't use Santana as a lead horse. I did trot Frosty anyway. Somehow she learned that she could get more comfortable by just stopping. Which, I must say, is very nice. It means she doesn't get to the bucking part as easily.
With the other three I got on bareback, and Terry led them. After that I put a saddle on, longed all of them but Toffy, got on and Terry led them around again. I longed Dash and Coffie, because I'm still not sure they are totally okay with the back cinch.
Dash is now quite fine with someone getting on bareback. Heck we can even get on from a bucket. That did take a little bit more work though.
We've decided to take Frosty and Dash to the fair. Terry's grandsons will do halter classes with them, and Aleythia and I will do the riding.
Terry wants to go to a Sunday show and take Misstack, Santana, and two fillies. He'll see what Britney is doing and see if she wants to ride Misstack, and Terry's grandson will ride Santana. The fillies are just there for the experience. If either of those two don't show up I'll ride their horse. I really do want to ride Misstack in a show. Terry says that taking the fillies won't be a problem because they tie so well. They don't worry about being left alone.
Ya know I think the reason Misstack doesn't trust me is because I'm very inconsistent with her. I ride her when I feel like it. The fillies are all gung ho about anything we ask them to do. Every time I see them I ride, or at least most of the time I ride. With Misstack it depends on how much gumption I have. I really need to ride her. Maybe the Sunday shows will give me a little incentive to do so.
Why do they have to have shows on Sunday? That is a very inconvenient day. Some of us have Church to go to! Why can't they put it on Saturday? Nobody does anything Saturday anyway. Lest not in the Summer anyhow.

Highlight - She Turned!

Well... Sunday didn't go as planned. Stuff got in the way. Derned Stuff. Why does he have to go an do that?
Today went pretty well though. I got to Terry's at two and helped him out at another farm, the airport farm. Not to be confused with the Rosen farm where we kept the fillies. The airport farm is right behind the airport. We took the extra tires off the tractor, and once again I can't remember what it's called. I feel like it starts with a d. We threw away a bunch of window panes and found some woodchuck holes. We also threw away some tires. Terry's brother was helping too. Did I ever tell you guys hat Terry's brother broke four ribs falling off of his new horse Toots? See what happened was he was riding Toots while ponying Flicka and you know Flicka she needs to be the boss so she bit Toots. Toots bucked, he fell off and broke four ribs. Toots stopped the moment he was on the ground and stayed with him. She used to be a 4-H horse. She's quite sturdy lookin. She rides good too. That's what I've been hearin anyway.
Oh I saw MD at the wedding Saturday and we talked and she said the reason she didn't come to watch was because she had to work late. She gave Aleythia and I her number so that the next time we attempt to canter we can give her a call.
I also met another horse person at the wedding. Name's Amy. I was asking her about getting the fillies to canter and she said to try doing it in a straight line because they might have trouble getting under themselves and balancing with a rider on a circle. So straight line. She also said to teach them one-rein stops, which she called "e-breaks", which I should have done anyway.
So today when we were done workin at the airport farm we went back home and got a couple horses. Terry's grandson was there and he rode Santana while I rode Frosty. I rode behind Santana almost like a lead horse and she did just fine. She was really plowin though. She felt comfortable and steady. We trotted together and she was fine. She stopped once and I let her catch up which was when she bucked. Surprisingly I just turned her and she did a neat little bucking circle, stopped, and we went away again. Her back was still arched so we went to the shade, stopped, I got off, and took a break.
I am designating the shade the safe spot. So we'll stop there every time we go around and to calm her down.
I got back on a little bit later and we walked around some more. She was wringing her tail at first, but after a little while she relaxed and started being solid again. I got off of her after that.
I went and got Toffy and saddled her up, took her out, desensitized to the barrels. I just think that that would be a very stupid thing to get bucked off for because you go around the barrels, nock it over, and your horse freaks. Stupid. After the barrels Terry's grandson got on, and sat there. She was alright. We even walked. Totally fine. We didn't go too far though. Got off when we reached the safe spot.
After that Terry's grandson and I went and got Dash and Coffie. I worked with Dash first. Before I put the saddle on I gave Terry's grandson a leg up onto her back and he sat up there for a little while. Such an improvement to when we first did it. Either Terry's grandson or me got on bareback and moved around before we put the saddle on with all the fillies.
So I still wasn't sure how Dash would react to cantering with a back cinch. So I did that. Ya, glad I did that. I'll do it again tomorrow. I had the long loenge whip and I was flinging it all over her and I flung it under her belly and she freaked. A couple more times and she was fine. I got on and sat there while Terry held her. I did pretty much the same thing with Coffie. She just needed to be reminded that I can get her to do stuff. The long with was nice for that.
We're going to try and get the fillies to follow Santana and see if that gives them a little bit of confidence. It seemed to give Frosty some... not that she needs anymore. We'll trot Frosty next to him and walk the other three.

May 31st

Yesterday we worked on cantering Frosty. It didn't go too bad. Basically I spent 15 minutes on the ground doing ground work. I did cantering, and all that stuff. When she was walking nicely Aleythia got on. For the next little while we just trotted around. Basically in that little while I taught her that in order to be more comfortable all she had to do was slow down. If I got her into a gait and she slowed down I didn't worry about it. I figured that the sooner she choose to get out of a canter the better. She also choose a spot in our circle as her safe spot and would stop every time we came to that spot. That was perfectly fine with me. It might save us some trouble. You could teach your horse to have a safe spot. When he gets a little uncomfortable just stop him in that spot and let him relax. And then I asked for a canter. It took a little bit, and she cantered one stride before doing a little hop and stopping. We tried one more time to get her to canter, and she maybe did half a stride before slowing down. I think part of the reason she was a little uncomfortable was because the saddle was coming up onto her withers. I think that when we go over there today we'll get Ana's lighter saddle and see if that makes a difference.

We didn't canter with Coffie. She just felt way too nervous. Sometimes I wonder if I'm being too cautious and really don't have to worry about it. Compliments of getting bucked off of Toffy one to many times. For example I rode Santana yesterday, and when I put my foot in the stirrup he started bucking. After doing a little bit of ground work I got back on again and walked around for a little bit. I wanted him to trot, but I was worried about it. What if he bucks? What if I fall off?
Geez I don't remember ever having problems with that. I wasn't afraid to get bucked off. I could stay on Santana when he bucked. Sometimes I fell off, sometimes I didn't. With the fillies I'm worried that when I do something with them that puts me in a vulnerable position that something will scare them and they will start bucking. It's not okay. It's not okay for my confidence to fall off every time the fillies buck. I think if I could stay on just a few of their bucking fits that would really help, but I haven't been able too. With Santana I new that turning him would work. With the fillies they just lean against the pressure and buck harder. I half wonder if I just left the reins alone and let them stop on their own if they would. I wonder how long I could stay on. I just don't have enough fortification to let them do that though. I would love to see what happens if I didn't do anything to hamper them from bucking. It's not like anything I do works anyway.
But I rode Santana today so that I could pony Toffy and Dash. I trotted with Frosty and walked with Dash. Both of them were pretty good. Toffy kept up, and Dash had a little bit of trouble with that, but she got better. It's funny. When I stop when ponying, Santana will swing his hindquarters out so that he's in front of the horse we're leading. It's kinda nice.
Today I want to try cantering Frosty again, and ride the other three. With Toffy I think we'll lead her around for a little bit than lunge. I think that we really just need to start riding her again. She doesn't feel so tense when we sit on her anymore.
If we're going to go today it has to be in the morning. I think we'll leave at ten and get back by one. We have a wedding to go to at three!

Trail Ride with H/Day 10

I am so far behind in reading blogs, that I don't even want to start. It's pathetic.
So the trail ride with H.
We took Ana and Santana out on the first trail ride of the year. I was kinda worried about how they would act. I hadn't ridden Santana in a couple weeks, and I have only ridden Ana a couple of times sense last summer.
We worked them in the paddock for a little while and Ana was doing pretty good. As was Santana. We got going, and headed for the other side of town where we kept the fillies for the summer. It was probably a little over a mile, and it took an hour to get there. Seriously that's lame. But, I had to remind Ana that she couldn't trot on her own whim, so I did one rein stops. So we got to Terry's brother's place, and the train came by. I was trying to get Ana to listen to me, but she wasn't taking any notice of the rope I slapped against her rump. She was running me over, not listening, and generally being disrespectful. I acquired a whip. I got her to move nicely backwards. She turned when I asked, and didn't run me over. The Rosen Farm (Terry's brother's place) is on a dirt road that leads down to a dam. So we went down there. I was getting tired of Ana's energy so there was this nice hill (dirt that was pushed in a pile and hadn't been moved in a while so grass was growing on it) that was moderately steep. I went up and down that thing for a little while and that seemed to help, but she still wasn't done. We went down a path that was next to and above the dam and it turned into a small grassy area. I let Ana go any speed she wanted. We also met a small group of little kids that wanted to pet the horsies. Of course we couldn't refuse. They just petted Santana though. Ana wouldn't stand still long enough.
We headed back towards the "hill" and ended up cantering. When we got back to the dirt road the Rosen Farm was on I just let Ana gallop. H was behind me with Santana and she let him gallop too. It wasn't even a competition. It was a total cream. Santana just shot by Ana like she was standing still. H had fun though. She said her horses don't go that fast.
I figured something out about Ana that trip. She likes contact with the bit. It's so weird. I have always thought that she didn't. I don't even know how I came to that conclusion.
The whole way there she wasn't consistent in speed, she would have failed a drug test, and wasn't listening. On the way home, when I kept contact with the bit she tucked her head, went slow (read trotted really slow), went straight, and was listening. She sped up or slowed down with very little encouragement. She never really walked, but she did do as I asked. I wanted to see if she would sidepass too. I put my leg against her side, and she took four neat little steps sideways. She did it the other way too. I had to show H too. She walked calmly past the scary water and didn't even care about the man holes. She amazes me sometimes.
We met more people who wanted to pet the horses too. Santana got petted. Ana wouldn't stand still. But the little kids were so cute. A woman was holding a little boy, and he slowly reached his hand out and touched Ana, snatched his hand away and giggled excitedly. It was so cute!

Today with the fillies I caught them all and brought them in from the alfalfa field. It took two trips. I was hoping that Dash and Toffy would follow, but once they realized I didn't have a hold of their lead ropes, they were like "skrew this" So it took two trips instead of one.
It was really funny when I fist went out there to say hello. All the fillies came up and said hello, and the big horses followed. So a herd of horses, clumped together were converging on my position. It made me laugh.
Terry and I set out a blanket in the back pen and proceeded to try to get the fillies to walk over it. Toffy would have nothing to do with it. Terry eventually went and got Frosty. Terry led Frosty over to the blanket, and she walked right on over it, without so much as batting an eye. I was like what the heck! Totally not fair!
We ended up putting the blanket next to the barn so Toffy couldn't get around it and I led both horses across... eventually.
Dash was pretty okay with it too. Coffie freaked out though. But after she went and smelled it I was able to lead her across without too much trouble.
And that was about all we did.
Pretty exciting stuff.

Gotta Do More Baby Steppin

~Friday~
Aleythia and I decided that Frosty was doing well enough that we could try cantering. I would longe her while Aleythia rode. First we did some groundwork, and I have a couple pictures of Frosty cantering.

happy trot

 

Isn't that a beautiful canter? Look at how far under she reaches with her back feet. Love it! Oh she can switch leads too. Which is pretty awesome.

 

Frosty was just all go. She just wanted to faster.

Aleythia got on and rode around for a little bit and she tried to canter by herself, but Frosty wasn't doing it, and the saddle was slipping forward.

We fixed the saddle and I got in the middle and we tried it again. It went something like this.

I asked her to canter and she did go into a faster trot, but not a canter.... then she started bucking. Aleythia stayed on and we tried it again. Aleythia was complaining that the saddle kept slipping forward. Once again a fast trot, and maybe an effort to canter, but then she started bucking again. The back end of the saddle was off her back and the front end was pushed up against her neck. Aleythia fell off over her shoulder and Frosty kept bucking.

Now go look at that picture of Frosty cantering. This time look at the saddle. That's what happens when she goes faster.

We switched out that saddle for a smaller one. It doesn't fit Aleythia and me very well, but maybe it would help with the slipping.

Aleythia got on again and just trotted around. The saddle didn't slip as much as the other one. I also want to see if a back cinch will help anything. We only have one and it goes onto Misstack's saddle, but maybe it will work. Otherwise we'll have to see about getting a few.

I was riding Toffy and I decided that we would use the small saddle on her too. So we'll see.

But as of yet we've been bucked off of all the fillies but one. Coffie. My goal. Never get bucked off of Coffie. She is usually the last horse we work with so maybe by then we get it right. One benefit of having four horses to train. You can make it better for the next horse.

Aleythia worked with Coffie and Dash. She just did ground work. And had them canter with a saddle.

ooh another thing we decided was that we're gunna get the fillies really used to and comfortable with trotting before we move onto cantering.

Tip of the Day- When training horses the slower you go the faster you progress.

In other words if you can break each training step into as small as pieces as possible training will go faster, because they are getting prepared for that next step.

So cantering will be put off for a little while longer.

I rode Misstack and Santana too. They were pretty good. All I worked on was neck reining and stopping. Both of them have the worst stop ever. Like it takes quite a bit to get them to stop when I pull back on the bit. So what I've started doing is relaxing into my saddle and thinking stop. If that doesn't work I take a light hold of the reins. If that doesn't work we do a one rein stop. I'll let you know how well that works in a couple of weeks.

I think that it will be really easy to teach the fillies neck reining. But I'll talk about that another time.

Aleythia rode Ana too.

So we got seven horses done. Woot Woot!

Yesterday it was hot! I wore a T-shirt and rolled up the sleeves. Standing in the sun was hot. It was nice in the barn. Not so much outside. It wasn't even that bad. It's more like I'm used to twenty degree weather and then all the sudden we're getting sixty degree weather.

But expect another post in the near future on today. I haven't gone yet so I'll have a couple stories when I get back. Whether I finish it today or another is up for debate. 

I'm sad cause I'll be gone Monday and Tuesday so I won't get to work with horses. I'm happy cause I'm going to a FFA state thingy. It'll be fun. 

I Love Warm Weather!

I walk in the house after just returning from working with horses and the first thing I get is "Go take a bath!" Is that a familiar line to anyone else?
Personally I love the smell.

We worked with seven horses today, but we didn't ride any of the fillies. Which for some reason I was under the impression that we did.
Dash is getting a little bit better about the plastic bag. I can shake it next to her and she's alright. When I first started I made the mistake of trying to touch her neck with the bag. Ya, not a good idea. She freaked out. I couldn't hold onto the rope because she was turned away from me and bucking. I got a little bit of a rope burn, but it doesn't hurt anymore.
So we decided that instead of us trying to desensitize her and taking a good hour to just get her to stand it being shaken next to her we would tie plastic bags all around the paddock. Were thinking every two posts. Though I'll still desensitize her with the plastic bags myself. It took a really long time yesterday. I think the chemicals in her brain aren't working correctly or are working really slowly.

We put the fillies in the trailer too. All of them but Coffie anyway. Aleythia did ground work with Coffie. Aleythia rode Ana too. Ana has a stop button that works!
Dash went into the trailer like a pro and didn't even care about being stuck between the dividers. Frosty was fine with it too. Toffy was not. She wouldn't go in. With a little encouragement she did go in.... then she wouldn't come out. She was looking at the ground like, "If I can't touch it with my nose I'm not stepping down."

She did eventually come down. When I brought Misstack in after my ride. She bumped over the gate sitting on the ground, got freaked, jumped across the gate and ran to her buddies tied to the far wall. Toffy jumped out after her.
Misstack did really well on her ride. I worked on neck reining. Basically I would trot her towards an object with intent. I kept my reins in one hand and didn't pick up the other one until it was necessary. If she deviated from that course I would give her my cue to go back with neck reining and if she missed that cue I would turn her in the opposite direction she went. One thing to stress is that the circle is just a circle and is not a correction. If you think it's a correction you'll tend to get harsh with the bit. I would give her the lightest cue possible. When I wanted her to turn around and go back to the place I started at I would look over my shoulder at that place and ask with my neck rein. If she didn't do it I would disengage her hindquarters until she was facing the direction I wanted her to go.
I did the same thing with Santana. And also stuff from what I did the last time I rode.
And both horses bucked on me.
I cantered Santana a little bit too. And did one rein stops at the canter. Let's just say it needs work.

And the best part of that whole day... I wore a sweater all day!

Easter!!!!

Happy Easter everyone!
I love Easter. And not just because of all the candy. Jesus died on the cross for our sin. A perfect sacrifice so that we could be with the Father. But he didn't just die and that was it, he rose again. He is alive and active. That is why I love Easter.

I loved yesterday too. It was b-e-a-u-t-f-u-l! The ice is melting off the lake, there's water flowing through the channel, and the snow is melting! Like seriously, I smiled every time I walked past a gutter. The water was flowing down into the gutters and it was a beautiful sound. I wish I would have had my camera, I would have taken a picture. The water was running down the sidewalk on the hill, like a miniature stream. And the best part. The sun was actually warm!
Terry was out in the paddock with the bob cat smoothing out the dirt so that it would drain off the water better and dry up sooner. I was laughing watching the fillies. They aren't afraid of the bobcat anymore. All of them, even Dash who freaked out the last time, were all following the bobcat. It would go right beside them and they were fine with it. They moved out of its way, but didn't freak out. That's perfect.
So I didn't do much with the fillies, I just hung out with the horses. Terry got some of the stuff he ordered including a shedder thingamajiggy and a bridle. Woot Woot! The bridle is really nice. Its leather is nice and bendy. Though it was just made because on the headband it was still sticky. We went and brushed horses with the sheder and their hair was coming off in sheets. I was trying to brush horses and the fillies were following me and generally getting in the way. We took the blanket off of Stretch and brushed him. He's basically fur and bones. His back comes up in a point and basically has no muscle tone. We don't ride him because all he wants to do is run and we're worried he'll have a heart attack or something.
I did do something with the horses today, though just hanging out is important too. At four o'clock we let them in and gave them food.

So, of shoot story, don't worry I'll go back. I'm at my grandparents farm and the phone rang. Grandma said hello and then 5 seconds later hung up. She told grandpa, "It was an advertisement saying 'if you're a senior citizen suffering from diabetes...' and I hung up." Grandpa told her, "I'm a senior citizen suffering from medicare." Ah yes....:)

Anywho, we let the horses in and fed them. And it was a beautiful day and Terry was asking if I was going to do anything with them. I was leaning towards not, but it was a beautiful day, and I had time to kill. I went and got Misstack from her pen and Terry helped me get her ready. I worked on flexing at the standstill, walk, and trot. I think she's limping. We did a little bit of flexing at the poll and backing up. Disengaging her hindquarters and bending around my foot. It didn't take too long. Got done with her and Terry had Santana tied up to the trailer for me so I saddled him up and pretty much did the same thing.
They both did really well.

Aye, Yi, Yi

I'll start with.... Dash needs help...
What Aleythia and I talked about doing with the fillies... We decided that we need to do more desensitizing with Dash. We think that maybe we're taking it a little bit too fast and she's just not quite ready. We'll still ride, but we'll desensitize before and after riding.
Proof.... I decided that I would just work on desensitizing Dash to the plastic bag so that we would have more time to work on getting all the other horses done. It didn't help. I walked Dash through gate in the barn and bent down to pick up the plastic bag. She flipped out! She bolted in the opposite direction and started bucking right next to and running into all the other horses who were tied up. So we had a bunch of slightly crazed horses. Dash stopped bucking, but now all the other horses were a little riled up. For the next hour I worked on desensitizing. I wasn't able to get her to walk forward to follow the bag. I just stood there lightly shaking the bag.... six feet away. And that's about as close as I got... In an hour... So, guess what I'll be doing for the next week.
Aleythia rode Ana, and I'll let her tell you about that... if I can convince her to write...er.. type. I asked her too and she didn't seem totally apposed. We'll see.
She worked with one horse and then didn't have gumption to do the others. She did work with Frosty while I rode Misstack. So here we have Frosty's reaction to the plastic bag.

Big difference from Dash ain't it.
Misstack is getting quite a bit better at flexing. She doesn't turn every time I do it, and she's lighter. She does put her head down to brace against it sometimes though. It'll get better.
I convinced Aleythia to desensitize Frosty while I rode Coffie. I desensitized to the plastic bag first and it didn't take long. I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't get bucked off when Aleythia started waving it around.
I also rode Santana. He did pretty good. He's getting pretty good at flexing while trotting in a circle. I love it. He just feels so light and ready to do what I ask. It can definitely improve, but it is definitely better than what it was.
So that was my horse training day. We worked with seven horses in three hours.
One thing I'm not too excited about is when I get a job. I'll be running in the morning, working, and then riding seven horses, sometimes nine. The last two come in when I'll be helping a friend train her horse, Patches, and if I can, retrain Flicka. Fun right? I suppose I'll get used to it. But man the first couple weeks of that are going to be awful.